Prior art bags for containment of lawn debris and fallen leaves are usually large plastic or paper bags. After collecting lawn debris and fallen leaves in a pile, usually by raking or blowing, the user will then hold open the bag and attempt to simultaneously bend over, scoop up a portion of the debris with his arms, and place the debris into the bag. When the typical plastic bag is full, the user usually closes the bag, either by pulling on a self-contained drawstring or gathering the top portion of the bag and tieing it with a plastic or wire "twist tie". To close paper bags the user must fill a smaller volume of the bag and fold it over the top.
This common method of containing lawn debris is disadvantageous for a number of reasons. First, the user must perform two time consuming acts--the initial raking of debris into a pile, and then the scooping of the debris into the bag.
Second, it is quite difficult to simultaneously hold open the bag and scoop debris into the bag. Thus, two people are usually required to contain the debris--one to hold open the bag, and one to scoop the debris into the bag.
Third, the common type of plastic bag utilizes no built in mechanism for closing the bag; rather, a separate twist tie is often required. Twist ties tend to become misplaced, which leaves the user with no way to close the bag. Although some bag embodiments utilize a twist tie that is tacked onto the top of the bag, this method is not foolproof since they too can become detached and lost. Moreover, although the drawstring type bag alleviates this particular problem, such drawstring bags are more expensive to manufacture and thus more costly to the consumer.
Fourth, it is often desired to recycle the debris, and this prior art method of debris containment in plastic bags affords no practical opportunity to remove the bag prior to recycling. That is, once the debris is sealed in the bag, it is a time consuming task to empty the debris onto a mulching pile or other type of recycling environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,068 discloses a leaf disposal bag formed by a plastic circular sheet. A drawstring is threaded through the sheet, leaves are raked onto the sheet, and the drawstring is pulled tightly in order to close the bag around the leaves. This bag is disadvantageous since the threaded drawstring requires a more costly manufacturing process. In addition, this prior art bag can only be emptied onto a mulching pile by sliding the drawstring and shaking the up-ended bag to remove the contents.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a lawn and leaf bagging system which overcomes the above described problems of the prior art.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a lawn and leaf bagging system which decreases the amount of time required to gather and contain lawn debris.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lawn and leaf bagging system which can be used by one person and does not require a second person during the containment stage.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lawn and leaf bagging system which can be adhesively closed without requiring a separate twist tie mechanism or internally threaded drawstring.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lawn and leaf bagging system which allows quick and easy release of the debris contained therein at a recycling or mulching site by cutting the fastening means and jerking the sheet open to permit the contents to slide into the desired location.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lawn and leaf bagging system which is made from recyclable materials so the system can be disposed with its contents at a recycling or mulching site.